Land Use and Comprehensive Planning
Land use and comprehensive planning focuses on the planning and implementation of policies to manage the location, timing, type, and intensity of land development.
The land development process consists of three types of activities that need to be coordinated if desirable development outcomes are to be achieved. The private market system provides much of the motivation, incentives, and capital of the development process. The public sector regulates development in order to prevent land use conflicts and to help ensure that the location, type, intensity, and timing of development are consistent with public policy goals and the ability of land and public facilities to support development. The public sector also acts as a stimulant to private development through the construction of roads, schools, sewer and water systems, and other facilities that are necessary for land development. The specialization is concerned with how well these three functions are carried out and coordinated in order to improve the outcomes of the city building process.
The courses in the specialization are designed to examine a number of issues, including the problems that may result from unplanned and unmanaged growth, the operation of the private land development market, the institutional structure of land use and development regulation, the legal framework of development regulations, and the mechanisms by which government provides community facilities. There is a special focus on the range of policy solutions implemented by government in the past, the methods of evaluating the need for policy solutions, and the methods for designing policy and implementation strategies.
Coursework
The specialty consists of three required and two elective courses. The required courses are:
- URP 5312: Issues in Comprehensive Planning and Growth Management
- URP 5316: Land Use Planning
- URP 5424 Sustainable Development*
- URP 5731: The Planning of Community Infrastructure*
- URP 5222: Planning Alternatives Analysis**
- URP 5261: Forecasting for Plan Development**
- URP 5272: Urban and Regional Information Systems
- URP 5350: Pedestrian-Oriented Communities
- URP 5421: Intro to Environmental Planning and Natural Resource Management
- URP 5422: Coastal Planning
- URP 5424: Sustainable Development*
- URP 5429: Planning for Climate Change
- URP 5540: State and Local Economic Development
- URP 5711: The Transportation Planning Process
- URP 5716: Transportation and Land Use
- URP 5731: The Planning of Community Infrastructure*
- URP 5742: Intro to Housing and Community Development
- URP 5743: Neighborhood Planning
- URP 5873: Site Planning and Land Use Analysis
- URP 5526: Healthy Cities, Healthy Communities
- REE 5105: Real Estate Valuation (enroll through business school)
- REE 5205: Real Estate Finance (enroll through business school)
- REE 5305: Real Estate Investment (enroll through business school)
**URP 5222 Alternatives Analysis and URP5261 Forecasting may be counted as a LU/CP elective only if it is not counted as one of the student’s MSP methods courses.